At some point, I want to start doing some guidelines for the various game showcase/preview/etc streams and videos, just so people know what to expect because if I'm showing off a game in development in a stream, there will be some additional talk about the development of it and answering questions based upon what I know. Yes, there will be gameplay, but it's important to be able to answer questions about my experiences with the game, which means that the game may take a while to complete, which means that I pretty much have a set limit of 2-3 hours (including rolling Q&A) per game, depending on if I plan to showcase 1-2 games on stream, so I'll realistically show at minimum, the first hour of a game, although in some cases, I might actually go through the tutorial to speed things along a bit.
I didn't do this previously, but I think I might start doing this now! Naturally, as these are guidelines, they are going to be somewhat flexible too, but I at least want to manage some expectations, and also work out a decent system to follow, so things are made easier over time! Naturally, I'm open to feedback from developers/publishers over the guidelines, but do keep in mind that not all of your suggestions will make it in, but I will try to make it as fair as possible! In any case, these guidelines will be developed over the course of the rest of the year, and so far, these guidelines essentially form the basis of how Played Up (PU) team members handle all showcases/first looks/previews/etc videos or streams, regardless of if the key was issued as a review key, or purchased (before, during, or after release) by either the team member or (eventually) Geeked Up Network (GUN) for the purposes of evaluation.
There are additional guidelines for games which have an embargo, as well as also some sort of sponsorship, all of which will be handled by these guidelines, but currently, the guidelines are focused towards acquisitions via review keys being provided (either directly or via a site, such as Keymailer), or purchases, where the PU team member or GUN has purchased the game. Guidelines for paid sponsorships are something planned for the future, given that (as far as I'm aware), no one (being only me, Stormkeeper right now) is eligible for paid sponsorships, hence why straight key acquisitions are being focused on.
All of these guidelines are currently (for the purposes of setting up a basic structure) based upon my experience with the process, as well as ways to make workflow more efficient at the content creator's end! Lastly, I appreciate that this may seem a bit convoluted, but this is partly a stream of consciousness, partly a statement of intent (to provide easily accessible guidelines to developers/publishers as to how we showcase games before we review them), and partly something to help me better facilitate being provided review keys, and also the workflow associated with that. I'll be putting these guidelines on the Gamed Up Blog (and maybe a Played Up blog too, if not instead of) so they're easily accessible to all, so everyone knows how things'll work.
Either way, I appreciate that this is a bit convoluted, but hopefully, the actual guidelines (when I get them up) will make more actual sense! I'll stop things here for now, as I've rambled long enough, but hopefully the above makes some sense! If not, wait a bit and the guidelines should eventually roll out, or do feel free to ask about them and I'll try to clarify where I can, but keep in mind I'm still hashing it all out.
In any case, that's me done for now. I'll make further updates about this later, as well as updates about other things, but for now, that's me done. Take care and good night.
